What is it?
The Explorer is the heart of the ITONICS application. In the Explorer, you can find all the content that exists throughout the system. This includes published content as well as content that is archived, in draft mode, or under review. It thus serves as the easiest way to find content around specific topics (cf. the article on searching content) or filter criteria.
How does it work?
As mentioned the Explorer contains all the content for content categories that you are allowed to see as per your role. This provides you further with the option to find content pieces of interest easily.
The Explorer can be directly accessed from the main navigation menu on top of the application. After clicking, you will see the name Explorer and the Filter menu on top of the Explorer Page.
Below, you will find a display of the number of content elements that are currently displayed. Underneath, you have a selection option from which you can select all content elements at once and, subsequently, perform bulk actions. To the right, you will find options to adjust the display of the content.
To change the layout of how content is displayed, you can choose between two options. You can either display the content in a list view (table view) or display the content by cards (grid view). To adjust the layout, go to the View drop-down and select your preferred view. Please note that the display option chosen will stay until it is reset again.
Per default, the Table View shows a slightly different set of information:
- Facts: Title, Entity Type, Created Date, Creator
- Action on Hover: Preview, Open in new Tab, Follow / Unfollow, Rate, Delete
Now, if a single entity type is selected via the filter options and the Table View option is selected, the Manage Columns option becomes available. Clicking on the action button will open the Manage Columns option that allows to configure a tailored list view for the respective entity type in the Explorer. Note that this list view can be configured per entity type, while only applying to the particular logged-in user and remaining active until changed otherwise, meaning the list view for the respective entity type is not reverted on page reload or re-login, but remains as is until changed.
On the left, the user can select from the fields available to her/him (note that any confidential fields not available to the user will not be listed) to define which columns the table view for the particular entity type shall have via the Column options section (1). Once selected, the fields become available on the right side within the Sorting section (2) to define the ordering of the table view.
Note: To revert to the default table view, simply remove all selected columns within the Column options section.
The Grid View displays the elements as small tiles. Every tile consists of the following structure:
- Facts: Title, Profile image, Entity Type, Abstract, Modification Date
- Collaboration: Number of Likes and Comments
- Action on Hover: Like / Unlike, Follow / Unfollow, Rate, Open in new Tab, Edit, Delete
If you want to have a quick view of an element in the Explorer, hover over the selected element card and click the Preview icon, left to the general content category (1). The element preview will pop up at the right side of the screen and will show its relations if you scroll down on the sideview (2).
The preview contains the main information about the element, including its rating. You can also perform certain actions from there if you click on one of the icons below the preview picture:
- Open the element in a new tab
- Follow the element
- Add your rating for this element
- Edit the element details
- Delete the element